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Nick Arciniaga's Thoughts Heading into the USA Marathon Champs

Published by
RunnerSpace.com/RoadRacing   Sep 30th 2013, 8:13pm
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Racing My Expectations

Published by Running Times on September 30, 2013

As I mentioned in my last blog I have just 1 week left until Twin Cities Marathon/US Championships. Training this past week has been pretty good, my taper is in full effect and my legs are feeling fresh again. My big workout last weekend of 2 x 6 miles at race pace went pretty bad. However, I was back home in California for my cousin’s wedding, so I was hoping to get a solid sea level workout, but unfortunately my legs were not having it that day. Usually this workout helps me to build my final race plans and expectations of what my goals should be on race day. This time around my times were about 15 seconds/mile slower than I was hoping for, which did not build confidence like I was hoping for.

Marathon training is pretty straight forward; run far, and every few days run hard as well. When it comes to workouts I like to run between 10-15 seconds slower than my marathon race pace since I do most of my training at altitude. I have a workout at this pace over a variety distances 1-2 times a week during my marathon build-up. So, each time out I have a certain expectation of what I want to run. I also know that my body is not always going to be able to handle the workout prescribed, just like my 2 x 6 miles last week. I usually have 2-3 bad workouts like that before every marathon. I never know which workouts will be a bust, so even though I have only 1 week until the race, I am not deterred.

Part of my confidence now comes from the workout I did today. Since I am in taper mode, the distance of the workout is significantly shorter than the race distance, but also a little bit quicker than the workouts I have been doing for the past 2 months. My workout was a 4-mile tempo, which I ran in 19:29, with splits of 4:49, 4:52, 4:57, and 4:51. This workout is one that I have done many times leading into my marathons, and this time it was just as fast as when I ran my personal best. This workout has helped me to build my expectations for next weekend.



Read the full article at: www.runnersworld.com

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